Cookery and Dining in Imperial Rome

WITH. IF DESIRED, ADD [the sliced root of the] CELERY TO IT [2]. [1] V. "new," i.e., cook leeks in a separate sauce pan; NOT together with the celery, which, as the original takes for granted, must be cooked also. [2] V. We would leave the honey out, make a cream sauce from the stock, or, adding bouillon, tie same with a little flour and butter, and would call the dish Stewed Celery and Leeks. The ancient method is entirely rational because the mineral salts of the vegetables are preserved and utilized (invariably observed by Apicius) which today are often wasted by inexperienced cooks who discard these precious elements with the water in which vegetables are boiled. III [72] ASPARAGUS _ASPARAGOS_ ASPARAGUS [Tor. IN ORDER TO HAVE IT MOST AGREEABLE TO THE PALATE] MUST BE [peeled, washed and] DRIED [1] AND IMMERSED IN BOILING WATER BACKWARDS [2] [3]. [1] V. Must be dried before boiling because the cold water clinging to the stalks is likely to chill the boiling water too much in which the asparagus is to be cooked. Apicius here reveals himself as the consummate cook who is familiar with the finest detail of physical and chemical changes which food undergoes at varying temperatures. The various editions all agree: _asparagos siccabis_; Schuch, however, says: "For the insane _siccabis_ I substitute _siciabis_, _isiciabis_, prepare with _sicio_ [?] and cook." He even goes on to interpret it _cucabis_ from the Greek _kouki_, cocoanut milk, and infers that the asparagus was first cooked in cocoanut milk and then put back into water, a method we are tempted to pronounce insane. [2] V. Backwards! G.-V. _rursum in calidam_; Tac. _rursus in aquam calidam_; Tor. _ac rursus ..._ This word has caused us some reflection, but the ensuing discovery made it worth while. _Rursus_ has escaped the attention of the other commentators. In this case _rursus_ means backwards, being a contraction from _revorsum_, h.e. _reversum_. The word is important enough to be observed. Apicius evidently has the right way of cooking the fine asparagus. The stalks, after being peeled and washed must be